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Topic: Pantheon: Rise of the Fallen (Read 89893 times)

A few of us were chatting about this game last night in Teamspeak and I guess I was nominated to make a thread about it. Pantheon takes place on a world called Terminus, where many different races have sort of "shipwrecked" together and brought their beliefs and way of living with them. You may have heard of Pantheon back when it was in Kickstarter in 2014. While the Kickstarter did not reach its goal, the developers have continued to work on making Pantheon a reality, and have opened their website up for pledges. PantheonMMO.com If you're interested, you can pledge HERE.

An MMO EvolvedPantheon: Rise of the Fallen will likely be a fundamentally different game compared to what you may have experienced playing other modern MMORPGs. From the moment you log in you will notice that the game is more social and has an emphasis on cooperative play. The monsters are often tougher and exploration is more involved. You will need friends in the game and your reputation can either help you progress or hinder it. Death in-game is meaningful and you’ll want to avoid it when possible. You’ll learn your surroundings and the lay of the land, spending meaningful time in each area and not just running through as quickly as possible to collect ten hides. You will need strategy, cunning and endurance to uncover all that Pantheon has to offer. You will find yourself in group and guild chats as you strategize or even just to pass the time between battles. Pantheon is social, thought-provoking, and the memories from your experiences in Terminus will last a lifetime.

Atmosphere/Climate SystemOne of Pantheon’s tenets is ‘Engage the World!’ When we talk about being a PvE MMO, our definition of ‘environment’ means a lot more than just fighting NPCs -- players will be contending with the world itself. Some regions will be very hot or cold. Some areas within a zone might be enchanted with complete darkness, or silence (meaning spoken spells won't work), or poison or miasma. Small tornados could travel through a region, compelling players to work their way around them, not through them, lest they take significant damage. Also, certain spells may work better or worse (or even only work) depending on the climate or atmosphere -- for example, a 'Call Lightning' spell could deal more damage than a typical ‘lightning bolt’ spell but could only be cast if there is a storm in the region.

Powerful Spells and Abilities: The Living CodexIn MMOs it is common to find rare items out in the world, by adventuring or by crafting, but abilities and spells are more often learned from trainers or even just given to player when his or her character levels up. In Pantheon, however, many of the more rare and exotic spells and abilities are found not at the local trainer but from a wise sage hiding in the depths of a dungeon or at the top of a remote tower.

Dynamic NPC Encounter GroupsThe world is not static and unchanging – every day is not ‘groundhog’ day. Events occur that can completely change the population of a zone or the population of a group of NPCs within a zone (and the rarer the event, the rarer the rewards -- many exotic items can only be obtained when one of these zone events occur). An example: after you kill some key mobs guarding a hill giant camp, this triggers a zone event that loads up an invading force of Storm Giants who then proceed to attack the Hill Giant camp.

NPC Dispositions and BehaviorsAn area we have not seen much innovation in MMORPGs, almost since their inception, is the area of NPC AI. What if certain enemies had different “dispositions” that had to be discovered by the player? Many NPCs in Pantheon will have advanced behaviors, like the propensity to flee if possible, or to stand and fight to the end. Some NPCs will be inclined to help other NPCs in the area, while some will not. Some will target certain classes within the group that is attacking them. NPC’s movement speeds may vary if they feel they are outmatched. While it is too early to go into a lot of detail, some of the different dispositions we are working on include: the Alarmist, the Bully, the Craven, the Opportunist, the Protector, and the Strategist.

Colored Mana SystemDifferent classes will use different colors of mana. Some rare abilities, spells, and prayers will use more than one color of mana. These exotic abilities create an opportunity to sub-class your character, allowing players to customize their class to a degree, but without removing the interdependence between classes that is key to group content and building community.

Progeny SystemPlayers will be able to 'retire' high level characters and then create their children as new characters, but these new characters, the 'progeny', will have certain abilities, stats, etc. that make them slightly yet noticeably better than a completely brand new character (but not to the point that it unbalances things).

Situational GearIn Pantheon, there often won't simply be a weapon or piece of gear that is the absolute best item for your character’s class and level. Instead, many items will be more situational, and the player will need to ask himself, 'where am I?', 'what am I going to fight next?', and 'who in my group is what class, and what items do they have that may help defeat the next encounter?' Items that protect against climates/atmospheres (areas of extreme heat or cold, or disease, or absolute darkness) will often be important. So also will 'bane' items that are especially effective against certain types of mobs (for example, the Undead, or Dragonkind).

The Perception SystemOne of the most profound things about Pantheon is how we are designing the game from the ground up so that the Environment truly matters – we want players to care about the world they are in, and why things are the way they are. When you think of MMOs, when is the last time you discovered the meaning, or the history, or the secrets of a person, place or event without being told by a text box? What if we’ve conceived of a way to bring players back to exploring because they are compelled by what they see in front of them - not because a blinking light tells them to go there? In Pantheon, Wizards will be able to perceive things that a Warrior cannot. Through prayer, a Cleric may gain insight into an area, or a creature, that a Rogue could never know. Through our perception system, Pantheon will redefine how the game world becomes known, and how players will work together to progress.

The game is still in the early stages, but the devs have release a gameplay video. It's over an hour and half long of them in and actually playing the game together.

There is also a livecast show called Voices of Terminus. I've linked the first episode of the series.

While the game, obviously, has a ways to go for development yet, it may be one you want to keep on your radar, especially if you were a fan of the EQ days of old. I know there was quite a bit of interest just from the group that was chatting about it last night. Stay tuned for what is in store next for Pantheon!

Also FYI: alpha and beta tests are this year, 2016, and release is planned for 2017.

I just backed, the $100 package. The more I hear, the more I think this could actually be exciting and keep my interest. I think most games these days become so boring so fast because everything has to be "figured out". Anything and everything is fine tuned to be a science, but I miss experimenting. I miss adventure and exploring and figuring things out with guildies. The plans they have for weapon type vs mob type to matter (ie blunt weapons vs bone and sharp vs flesh), or spells and abilities that the environment will affect (ie. a silent area disabling "spoken word spells"); THIS is what excites me. Having a game that isn't such a tank and spank snoozefest.

They are also talking about have no "holy trinity", but more of a EQ feel with tanks, heals, dps, cc, puller, etc. I LOVE that each class will bring something truly unique and valued to the party.

Wellzy, Scip, and I brought a dozen or so folks over to The Guardians in Farmville 2015 (Archeage) -- Along with that group was a fella named Shortyrez, who just happens to be the Lead PR fella for Pantheon. He's been an officer of mine in Ceaseless for roughly 8 years, and we have been privy to a lot of cool information!

As for copies, I will have plenty to spare.

We are having a great time on Phinigel server (EQ) and on FFXIV (Ultros) currently -- So we will be set until the release of CU and Pantheon.

Wellzy, Scip, and I brought a dozen or so folks over to The Guardians in Farmville 2015 (Archeage) -- Along with that group was a fella named Shortyrez, who just happens to be the Lead PR fella for Pantheon. He's been an officer of mine in Ceaseless for roughly 8 years, and we have been privy to a lot of cool information!

As for copies, I will have plenty to spare.

We are having a great time on Phinigel server (EQ) and on FFXIV (Ultros) currently -- So we will be set until the release of CU and Pantheon.

WoW! That is really cool, Barlow. Small world.

That is really awesome that you're getting a bunch of copies of the game. I backed it because I wanted to support (and it gives me two copies so I can give one away on stream maybe). Fifty is a lot, that will build quite a good player base right there. Keep in touch about this; I'd love to hear more.

I'd be interested in getting into alpha and seeing how the game develops over time. Can't afford those pledge packages as of yet, though. Sad times. Maybe they'll do an alpha key giveaway or I can beg someone for one, when the alpha starts up.